I love the holiday season so much. *Cue Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas”* It is full of the things I love the most; family, friends, good cheer and traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. Over the holiday season, I’ll be sharing a few of my treasured memories from my own family. Today on the blog, I’m sharing my family’s tree-trimming traditions.

ONE OF MY FAMILY'S FAVORITE HOLIDAY TRADITIONS: ORNAMENTS

In my family, we love ornaments and we’ve been collecting them since I was a child. Each year growing up, my mom would purchase an ornament for each of my siblings that were personalized and we would add it to the tree. In addition, she loved getting Hallmark ornaments with our favorite characters and such. When I first became a mom, I knew I would continue this tradition. The story of my family is told through my ornaments. I love a traditional tree with red, green and gold colors but I always like to add little accents that show pieces of my personality or my children’s personality. My tree has an eclectic mix of ornaments ranging from the handmade (who could throw away those special ornaments made by the kiddies), to the really cheap but cute ones, or ones I've grabbed in my travels or my treasured collectables ( I love Christopher Radko ornaments) but the ones that mean the most are the ones I get every year that are personalized. At the mall near my home, there is a little kiosk that comes each holiday season with a ton of ornaments that can be customized with your family’s name, interests, and hobbies. I have ornaments celebrating their births, baptisms, extra-curricular activities and sports that they have been involved with over the years. The kids look forward to picking out ornaments that are just for them and looking back over some of the older ones as well.

Just a few of my favorite Christmas Ornaments!

My mom and dad host a tree trimming party each year and we gather at her home for an evening full of food, holiday music, her special holiday rum punch and we decorate the tree with the ornaments that have been in our family for generations. We order pizza, play our favorite holiday music and trim our tree. It’s a joy to see my youngest cousins, nieces, and nephews look with wonder as they place ornaments on the tree and the adults sit around and reminisce about precious family holiday moments through the years. It’s an event we look forward to each year and it officially kicks off the holiday season in our household.

Do you have special items you use to decorate your tree with? Any special tree trimming traditions? Share your favorites with me today!

As always,

Take care of yourselves and one another

D. Sanders

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